UK ISPs Start Blocking The Pirate Bay Proxies

Internet service providers in the UK have, very quietly, started to block access to websites that provide links to proxy sites for The Pirate Bay. The sites themselves do not contain any copyright infringing material and are purely informational which, presumably, is why the ISPs are being so hush-hush about blocking access to them.

A High Court order requires the six UK ISPs to block access to the world’s major torrent sites and streaming portals, though these blocks can be bypassed using proxy or VPN services. Sites that merely posts lists of website addresses, as the banned proxy list sites do, do not fall within the purview of that court order, though copyright holders are known to have put ISPs under pressure to restrict access to proxy sites.

TorrentFreak spoke with Dan, the operator of UKBay.org, who is understandably confused over the blockade. “The new blocks are unbelievable and totally unreasonable. To block a site that simply links to another site just shows the level of censorship we are allowing ISP’s to get away with,” Dan said.

“UKBay is not even a PirateBay proxy. It simply provides links to proxies. If they continue blocking sites that link to sites, that link to sites… there’ll be nothing left.”